Talking Book

Lovely relaxed vocals but the lyrics are too sickly sweet for my tastes and a bit repetitive. Superstition is amazing. Stevie Wonder's real name is Stevland Morris. 3/5

This is an actual classic album. Stevie Wonder in his imperial period. It is hard to over-praise this record.

IMO Stevie is at his best when he does the funky soul numbers. Superstition is one of his most iconic songs, with killer guitar hooks and I love his funky snarling voice. But this album is marred by syrupy maudlin commercial tracks meant to sell records such as You are the sunshine, You and I, Looking for another pure love, and I believe. Yuck. If it had more Superstition it would be a 4 but the dreck pulls it down unfortunately

I went down the rabbit hole with Stevie Wonder after listening to this.... he has so many more catchy hits than I realized, many that have been covered so many times..... my favorite will always be 'Don't you worry 'bout a thing' but my newest discovery rivals my favorite - - 'Pastime paradise'; I'd never listened to the original, only the cover - Gangster's paradise

Arguably Stevie Wonder's best album, although I prefer "Innervisions" and "Songs in the Key of Life." Inarguably among one of the 1001 greatest albums of all time. "Maybe Your Baby" is an electro jam that feels contemporary in 2021. "Superstition" is an unskippable track for all people and all times.

For every bit of magic on this album, there's something a little powderpuff about much of the rest of the material. I know we are all supposed to consider Stevie Wonder a genius, but Innervisions aside I'm not sure he's ever hit that kind of consistency. The funk-soul equivalent to Iron Maiden, then; stellar moments and a hogshead of filler

Optimistic!

This is the album that has "Superstition" on it, the rest of the album is pretty forgettable electronic keyboard and sleepy soulless blabbering. Songs just boring and don't go anywhere, like an essay written to pad length.

So dope bruh

I love me some Stevie, and seeing him on this list will likely surprise no one. I think I actually own this record, but hadn't listened to it before today. I own and have listened to Songs in the Key of Life, and Hotter Than July, the latter of which I bought in a head shop in Macomb along with a book on how propaganda was making men's fashion more feminine (I threw away the book, still have the record). Anyway, based on my limited experience with his discography, Stevie's music is super consistent, and a joy. When I go back to hosting game nights again, I will be sure to dust off my copy of Talking Book. My personal enjoyment: 4/5 Did it belong on this list: 5/5

One of my all time favourite songs on this album - Superstition. So was looking forward to this, but i am sorry this song couldnot carry the rest of the album. It mostly sounded like lounge music to me. 2 Stars

this is a perfect album.

Absolutely outstanding and unique view of Stevie’s music. Not being super familiar with his work outside of any of the hits, this really helped me appreciate a bit more of the work that I guess was not considered as “commercial” at the time.

nuh uh. how can this guy be blind. theres no way. now i have no excuse to be shit at anything. im not even blind, only slightly fat. fav songs: youre the sunshine of my life, maybe your baby, youve got it bad girl, blame it on the sun, i believe.

this is one of my favourite albums of all time! a smile came to my face when i saw this was our next album to listen to ! every song unfolds so well together one after another! literally every single song is perfect !!! 5/5

Undoubtedly a genius, sometimes his tracks are just too cheesy. However, when he wants to get funky then his squelching synths and cry baby bass is amazing. Best Tracks: Maybe Your Baby; Tuesday Heartbreak; Superstition

Typical Stevie Wonder album, Some of the best music ever and some of the most self indulgent crap on the same disk. Loved some of it but hated that I didn't love it all.

An album of two halves. The well known tracks are some of Stevie's best. The album tracks are a bit bland and dull, frankly. However, any record with a song as strong as I Believe can't be all bad, right? For me, Innervisions is a better record for the cohesion and clarity of purpose.

Not a fan of soul/R&B and the cheesy schmaltz of the opening track ‘you are the sunshine of my life’ was a terrible start. Sorry Stevie, not for me

all the famous songs here are impeccable gems

Fantastic!! Now we are getting somewhere. The keys, the funk, and Stevie's wonderful voice.

grande stevieeee!

Great smooth listening

Amazing album. It's so easy to overlook Stevie Wonder sometimes, but this album is always worth coming back to.

I'm familiar with some of his more famous songs because Stevie Wonder is, well, iconic to say the least but never actually listened to a full album by him. Lemme just say I'm kicking myself for missing out and this Aussie gives Talking Book five lamingtons out of five.

I've been busy so I had to go back to this one. Really loved it stevie wonder is great

Beautiful work by Stevie Wonder

Fantastic

The album is elite

This album is amazing! I can't believe how great Stevie Wonder's music is. What a genius. I can see all the influences he's had on musicians.

Great

Brought back memories...

Dope beats

Awesome! Can't believe I didn't discover him earlier

Imagine being this talented

Funky classic! Superstition!

really good obv

Super album

Not the only 5 star album, but this is top class.

Amazing songwriting and arranging of the music.

So much soul!

5/5 - Always loved this album; Hell yeah, Stevie

The one..the.only...Stevie Wonder

The album starts with calming chords and a soft groove. Then the groove heats up and stays strong. Each song has unique instruments and melodies that keep this a very interesting album all the way through.

Beautiful album. It’s like a love-child of funk and country but raised by classical. It’s soft and gentle but also thoughtful. Stevie Wonder has a perfect voice and he also has poignant lyrics. This album delivers pretty heavy stuff like love and heartbreak and rebirth and belief and faith but it’s done so lite and breezy. Stevie Wonder is a genius. Top tracks You are the sunshine of my life Big brother You and I Tuesday Heartbreak Iconic track Superstition

The two songs opening each side are excellent and very well known hits. For me, Superstition is his best song.  Ray Parker will always be better known for his Ghostbusters song but his  guitar on Maybe Your Baby is top shelf and really works well with the funkiness. Stevie delivers the electric piano and clavinet that makes Tuesday Heartbreak. I've never heard those instruments deliver a cool and funky vibe like this. Stevie's vocals on You and I might be his best on the LP. Jeff Beck's guitar on Looking for Another . . . is also quite good as one would expect from Jeff. I didn't know Stevie for his political songs. Big Brother is quite good and the words "You've killed all our Leaders" are particularly poignant given this album was made less than 5 years after  Martin Luther King and Bobby  Kennedy were murdered.  Different songs on this LP have very different features that make them soar. They are all good songs for very different reasons. An album that pulls this off meets my definition of a 5. As an afterthought, it's a great picture on the cover. 

The best record of his career, and a monster of an album with chart hits and influential songs spilling out all over the place. I have always loved this record. I still do.

Wonderful album from start to finish.

Timeless Stevie Wonder album, no comments needed

Absolutely brilliant. A masterpiece companion to Innervisions (all recorded pretty much in one go).

Great album. I've been listening to it for years. Not new to me.

Super funky, enjoyed this one more then I expected.

Buenísimo

Beautiful, poetic, loving

When I bought this on CD it was from the "low price oldies" section - for context, that's equivalent in time to buying the first Kayne album today, christ! Lots of interesting synth sounds and squelchy Moog bass (all played by Stevie) decorate some excellent tunes; these are outrageously experimental given how poppy they sound. I love the funky numbers and the sappy ones equally. It's not quite Innervisions, but that's not really a criticism

Much of this is unsurpassable. Superstition sits next to Sweet Jane in having a riff that I can conceive continuing forever. There’s schmaltz on here, by my own measure, where the music is not great enough to sublimate lyrical sentimentality. Lookin’ For Another Pure Love is schmaltz; I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) is majestic.

Стиви Уандер - это наш кротяра

Superstition is an all time great song. Shame the rest of the album sounds nothing like it. Not bad, just gives you a glimpse of some of his best work for one song and the rest is mid.

How did I already get another Stevie Wonder album from such an exhaustive list? This one was too slow and cheesy for me, should've been called Blabbering Book. Superstition is good but not enough to carry the rest of the setlist. Maybe alright for chillin' in a lounge but not my cup of tea (too much honey).

Loveeee Superstition so went in expecting to love this hyped up album but a little disappointed by the rest of it! vocals are great and relaxed but a lot of it just feels very shmaltzy sentimental and kitchy… this is more about personal preference I’m sure but the overly soppy love stuff just got samey and boring to me, overall not a bad album by any means great voice and some songs but as a whole expected this to wow me far more

I'm not sure what they hype about this album is. Stevie slowed it down way too much through the vast majority of this. Superstition is miles ahead of anything else on the album. The rest of this is completely skippable.

Own it, love it. Listened to Innervisions instead, because I don't own it (yet). Both are 5. Stevie is God.

Discazo total!! 4 temazos para la historia, y el resto muy buenos de acompañamiento.

Precioso. R&B impregnado de funk con el sonido característico del Hohner Clavinet de Wonder. Tiene temazos.

Classic brilliant

Always love some Stevie! One of his best. Some favorites from the album included Maybe Your Baby, You've Got It Bad Girl, and Blame It On The Sun.

Stevie Wonder... Dos megahits.

J'adore Stevie Wonder et cette album est merveilleux. Ça s'écoute très bien et superstition est une de mes préféré. 4.90

Didn't listen fully

Magnificent. 'Maybe your baby' is pretty much the first part of Prince's career in 6:50...

Superstitious makes this a 5 star album by itself

Well... It's Stevie Wonder.

Exquisite. Just utterly, utterly sublime.

Another incredible album by Stevie Wonder - probably my second favourite of his. Includes classics You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, You And I and Superstition.

STEVIE! I'll never understand how someone like Stevie Wonder can be overlooked, but here we are. Unfortunately it seems like the world won't show it's outpouring of appreciation for Stevie until he dies. He had an imperial period that ranks up there with the all-time greats and was as prolific as Prince. And that doesn't even take into consideration that, oh yeah, the dude is BLIND. Many point to "Superstition" being the signature, iconic track on this album and they're not wrong. But let's not sleep on the joy that is the opening track on this album. "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" is full of joy and elation that captures exactly how happy it is to be madly in love with someone. The song itself is a party, where Stevie captures the happiness he's found in the world all in two-minutes and 45 seconds. We shouldn't wait until we lose Stevie Wonder to thank him for the joy he's given us.

On the list of best closing song to an album ever.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

The master

Kannte nur Superstition. Großartiges Album, eine Wohltat.

Another essential funky soul/pop LP from Stevie's classic period. Probably my 3rd favourite after Songs in the key of life (5*) and Innervisions (5*).

a golden soulful funky classic

Well that was amazing.

Espetáculo.

Album increíble. Gran armonía y modernidad para los 70

This album is amazing. It has so much range in melody, instrumentation, and topics/lyrics. It shows instrumental and production virtuosity on every track, and it holds together as an album for an end-to-end listen. If you can't appreciate it, I'd question your appreciation for music in general. Nothing like it to pick you up on a rough day, too.

Fantastic album. All the funk. All the musicianship you love about Stevie Wonder. And Superstitious remains one of the best songs, ever.

Oddly the poorest track imo is You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, but the rest of the album is just indubitably excellent. Superstition. What a track. What an album. What a man

Good shit 5

Je suis un grand fan des albums de Stevie Wonder du début des années 70. Voyons celui-ci de plus près. 1. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" incarne bien l'évolution de mon appréciation de Stevie Wonder. Alors que je n'aimais que les pièces funky et délaissais les balades qui m'apparaissaient plus sirupeuses, j'ai fini par tout embrasser dans un grand geste d'amour. Chanson délicieuse. 2. " Maybe Your Baby". Dès la première mesure, on accroche au mordant funky. Pendant les dernières mesures, on se demande quand ça va finir. Me paraît le maillon faible du disque à cause de sa structure en mode infini. 3. "Tuesday Heartbreak". On a envie de bouger notre corps doucement et d'aimer tout le monde. La magie de Stevie Wonder opère. 4. "You've Got It Bad Girl". Explorations dans tous les sens, tout en maintenant un cadre pop. La mélodie est accrocheuse malgré ses anomalies, les textures sonores vont dans plusieurs directions. Selon notre humeur, on pourrait juger que c'est trop sur ce dernier plan ou adorer le voyage. 5. "Superstition". Rien à ajouter sur ce formidable morceau dont les arrangements sont parfaitement équilibrés, l'interprétation vocale d'une justesse ahurissante. Cette chanson me fait toujours réagir avec la même ferveur. 6. "Big Brother". Malgré la progression harmonique toute simple, Wonder, réussit à surprendre avec des arrangements qui ouvrent une nouvelle porte par rapport à ce qu'on avait entendu plus tôt sur l'album :accents folks (est-ce un fingerpicking? eh non, c'est le magicien aux claviers). L'harmonica nous rappelle que Stevie en est un maître. Le message social est davantage mis de l'avant : Stevie n'est pas que musique, il est aussi conscience. 7. "Blame It On The Sun". Le Stevie sirupeux nous met au défi ici. Il suffit de plonger dans l'amour et la volupté pour apprécier. On se prend à regretter que l'amoureuse soit trop loin pour lui dire à quel point on l'aime. 8. "Lookin' For Another Pure Love" et 9. "I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)". Le génie mélodique de Stevie Wonder nous prend d'un autre angle avec ces chansons. La guitare de Jeff Beck apporte une belle fraîcheur. Le tout, méditatif voire planant, ne peut qu'évoquer un lit défait, des corps nus... L'outro de "I Believe" montre qu'on peut utiliser la répétition à bon escient dans la finale d'une chanson, ce que "Maybe Your Baby" avait raté. Pas le meilleur de Stevie Wonder de cette époque, cependant cette écoute attentive n'a réussi qu'à me le faire encore plus apprécier, malgré ses quelques excès.

Fantastic album

Love this classic

This album is chock-full of standouts. "Superstition", "Big Brother","Maybe Your Baby", "You've Got it Bad Girl" and "I Belive" easily push this album into 5 star territory for me.

Jamiroquai's wet dream

Soul masterpiece. Wonder was really peerless at this phase.

Just excellent.

The Man could no wrong in the Sixties. Sensational stuff.

I can't be unbiased about this. Stevie's my favorite. I remember holding this vinyl as a kid. The 70s synths feel like spending a sunny day on another planet to me. Favorite tracks are Superstition, Blame It On The Sun, and I Believe.

+You Are the Sunshine of My Life, Maybe Your Baby, Tuesday Heartbreak, Superstition, I Believe -You and I But who knew the "I Just Called (to say I Love You" guy could also bring the funk and bring it hard? Maybe Your Baby goes hard with some seriously filthy-funky bass that you just can't help to bob your head to, and a few "ee-hees" years before Michael made it his trademark; this track clocks in at just under 7 minutes and is a party the whole way through. Tracks like You've Got It Bad Girl and Blame It On The Sun provide some welcome breathing room giving us some buttery-smooth, soulful R&B, frosted with Stevie's crooning. Big Brother takes a folksy turn and pulls it off fantastically, you'd almost think it was Paul Simon. The show concludes as strong as it starts with I Believe, which is a journey of itself asking us the question "Doncha wanna fall in love?"...I already have, Stevie! The only track I didn't fully enjoy was You and I, and it's really just a showcase of Stevie's prowess on the keys (which is top-notch here), but the song itself I could take or leave.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting to be a huge fan of this based on the overplayed "Superstition" and "You Are The Sunshine of my Life," but it really is an incredible album, flowing between moods and genres with ease. It sounds great and his voice is terrific.

It's almost effortless- so smooth. He really is one of the greatest. Just listening to Stevie makes the world a slightly less bad place. Of course there's the big hits but with repeated plays other songs come out of the woodwork. 'Lookin' for another pure love' is a case in point. There's an intricate balance going on all through this album- the singing, rhythm and the beat with the instruments all together. It's not that immediately apparent in my view.